"Hunters in the Snow" examines the consequences of negative masculine tropes and expectations. The character of Kenny represents what we might refer to as toxic masculinity. He is a man who upholds older stereotypes of men as misogynistic (reducing a female to her status as a "babysitter") and homophobic (he doesn't want "'one of those male nurses'"). Moreover, he promotes violence and aggressive behaviors in an effort to appear as traditionally masculine and tough as possible. Kenny makes fun of Tub, and he even pretends like he is going to hit Tub with his truck, which he could easily have done because of the icy conditions. It is Kenny who wants to hunt.

Kenny brings up "'the babysitter'" in front of Tub, referencing a clearly touchy subject for Frank, who we later learn is in love—not unproblematically—with the fifteen year-old girl. Kenny teases Frank about the babysitter and teases Tub about his weight. In Kenny's presence, and under his influence, Frank becomes cruel as well. As if to draw attention away from his own areas of vulnerability, Frank tells Tub, "'you haven't seen your own balls in ten years.'" Frank's tough talk and willingness to make fun of a man who, by his own admission, used to stick up for him, feel like an attempt to avoid being the target of Kenny's derision himself. Such is the warping effect of the masculine ethos Kenny embodies.

When Kenny is disappointed because he did not get to kill a deer, he shoots at a fence post, because he "hates" it; then he shoots a tree for the same reason. Finally, he shoots the farmer's dog—not telling his friends that the farmer had asked him to do it—making it seem as though he's just tough and unfeeling. Perhaps if they knew that he had been asked to shoot the dog as an act of mercy, to spare the dog and its owner further pain, he feels it would have looked weak. Instead, Kenny tries to act macho, and he ends up getting shot himself when he seems to threaten Tub.

In Kenny's absence—while he's in the truck bed awaiting their arrival at the hospital—Tub and Frank bond. Outside of the harsh sphere of masculine values that Kenny inculcates, Tub and Frank allow each other to be vulnerable and human. They share their feelings about love and disappointment, about having to lie to people they care for, and other topics. They end up showing each other a real level of support, such as when Tub says,

"Frank, when you've got a friend it means you've always got someone on your side, no matter what."

Frank is so happy to receive this support that he offers it to Tub in return. This support and proof of friendship is so compelling and heartening to these two men that they begin to neglect Kenny, who is suffering from a gunshot wound and exposure in the truck bed. Frank and Tub even remove Kenny's blankets so that they can stay warm. In this way, the story can be read as a rejection of the toxic masculinity that Kenny represents, so much so that the two men literally let it (and him) die.